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both cores have to be the same speed because the instructions are hyperthreaded (they are put into the first avail cpu) and if not the same speed they would take diff amts of time to complete. If your dell suports it you could also out 2x2.83 for speed or 2x2.33 for budget

I am now going to keep the existing E5410 2.33Ghz and add another identical processor.

What I need to know is what heat sink/fans etc do I need to add/change in my system in order to cope with the additional heat from the processor? I will be using it for rendering so I will be literally maxxing out the capacity of the processor.

Is anyone familiar enough with the Dell Precisions?

I asked Dell about it, and they 'your system was sold as a single processor system, therefore it can only ever be a single processor system' (even though it is dual-processor motherboard, with a nice big open processor slot!)... thanks for nothing Dell Support India!

Update: just spoken to someone more helpful at Dell Support, who says that Dells official position is that it cant be done, but that it is possible, but means that due to the heat, the fan will have to work harder, fine! He also said that the same cooling is in place for the single processor systems as the double processor systems.

Onto my next question, I am looking at the processor to buy and have two identically priced, almost identical processors. One is called Active 1U, and the other Passive 2U, what does this mean? I have copied the details below... (sorry that its all big and crazy text)

Xeons are intended as server processors. This does not mean that they can't be used in a desktop (the company I work for has them in drafting PCs). The 1u and 2u are designators for chassis sizes for server racks. Active and passive reference the cooling type. It sounds like those come with a HS (and fan for the one listed as active). You may need to see if you can get a 3rd-party cooling solution as those ones intended for servers may not work in your system. Maybe go to Dell and buy a replacement HS to have the same one on both CPUs...

The cooling in my system is heatsink on the processor (I will get the dell heatsink, designed for xeon and this case) and fan in the case (which is also designed to handle the heat of dual processors).

ps I think the processors I have posted above are just the processors only (ie not processor kit) which means I will buy the heatsink separately from dell. Hopefully this should work out cheaper, Dell's processor kit is £400, as compared with the above £200 for the processor (plus the heatsink bought separately).

Given that they specify active or passive cooling, those are kits that come with the cooling solution, but those cooling solutions are designed for server chassis. The processors in the two packages are no different, the only difference in the kits is that one cooling solution has a fan mounted on it, the other relies on airflow in the chassis. Regardless of which one you buy you will still need to acquire a cooling solution as I don't think a cooling solution intended for a server will work in that machine. Looking at the service manual for that machine it's hard to tell if the server cooling solution will work in it, especially not knowing what the solution provided with the CPU is.

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